Webinars

Connecting thousands of Human Resources leaders from around the world, ChapmanCG hosts regular webinars with special guest speakers to facilitate the discussions on key global, regional, and local trends. Our aim is to ensure you have the information you need on some of the most challenging and often misunderstood markets.

ChapmanCG and the Heartfulness
Institute invited global HR leaders to join a three-week online seminar on the practices
that can enhance personal and team effectiveness via meditation. Following an
introduction from Matthew Chapman, ChapmanCG’s Co-founder, Victor Kannan, Chief
Financial Officer at Primero Games and Anis Baig, Global Head of Talent
Acquisition at Amgen, shared highlights from their journey into meditation.

In
session one, “Learn to Meditate”, Victor began by providing a comprehensive
overview on the foundations of Heartfulness and the Heartfulness Institute.

Heartfulness

Heartfulness
is a set of simple relaxation and meditation practices that promote personal
growth and ‘mind management’ for today’s world.

During
the last fifty years, there have been many scientific and medical studies on
the positive effects of relaxation and meditation on the physiology and
psychology of human beings. These studies have shown that meditation helps
reduce stress, improve emotional outlook and provide balance.

Heartfulness Institute

Heartfulness
Institute is a not-for-profit organisation with meditation programmes practiced
in approximately 150 countries worldwide and supported by thousands of
certified volunteer trainers who serve more than a million practitioners. Heartfulness
has a corporate presence in multinational companies, as well as small- to mid-sized
businesses, educational institutes, government departments and the armed
services.

Through
workshops and individual practice, participants develop calmness from within,
leading to better focus, inner balance and true wellness. For employees and the
organisation, this can lead to:

Relaxation for physical
well-being

Rejuvenation: unwinding
the mind and letting go of stress

Finding inner strength,
developing confidence and balance

Making wise choices and
bolstering empathetic leadership

Better relationships

Teams that are more integrated
and more effective

A happier, healthier, and
more productive work environment

During the last 50 years, there have been
many scientific and medical studies on the positive effects of relaxation and
meditation on the physiology and psychology of human beings. These studies have
shown that meditation helps to reduce stress, improve emotional outlook and
provide balance.

In session two, Dr Jay Thimmapuram,
Academic Hospitalist at WellSpan York Hospital, discussed “The Science of
Meditation” by reviewing two landmark research studies on Heartfulness
meditation. In one such study, scientists took a group of people who had never
meditated before and taught them how to meditate for eight weeks. Then researchers
tracked changes to their brains and the results were amazing. Researchers found
that the cortical thickness of the brains of those involved in the study were stronger
and more robust. The cortical thickness of the brain is important as it reviewed
for its impact on age-related degeneration of brain tissue and its link to
intelligence.

In another study at York Hospital (PENN),
researchers conducted another study to see if Heartfulness meditation had any impact
on highly stressful professions like the medication profession. During this
study, scientists and doctors took a group of nurses, residents, and physicians
and practiced meditation with them for 12 weeks. The first step was to measure
their burnout scores using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (BMI), their emotional
wellness and telomere length. A telomere is a region of repetitive nucleotide sequences at each
end of a chromosome, which protects the end of the chromosome from
deterioration or from fusion with neighbouring chromosomes. Its length is
associated with health and well-being as its length signifies how well it is
protecting a DNA strand from unravelling or performing its function adequately.

First, to measure their burnout,
researchers looked at the three components of burnout syndrome:

Emotional exhaustion

Depersonalisation/cynicism

Sense of low personal
accomplishment / sense of inefficacy

The study found that after 12 weeks of
Heartfulness meditation, emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation decreased
with statistical significance and personal accomplishment increased with
statistical significance for those in the meditation group. Burnout scores and
emotional wellness also improved for those in the meditation group compared to
the control group. Concentration, calmness, clarity of thought, harmony, joy
and sleep levels also increased in the group who practiced Heartfulness meditation
with statistical significance.

Finally, telomere length, which represents
health and well-being was measured. When ages were matched in the meditation
and control groups, the telomere length of those in the meditation group was
found to have increased in length compared to those in the control group.

Aside from the stories provided by those
who meditate, science is now focusing on the benefits of Heartfulness meditating
and its positive impact on your mental and physical well-being.

Many thanks to Victor, Anis and Dr Jay Thimmapuram for their valuable insights and contribution and we look forward to the final session.